Trigonometry
by thelinksthatconnectus
Summary: A collection of BillDip drabbles from prompts sent to me on Tumblr. Prompts can also be requested in reviews.
1. Hot Diggity Dog

Dipper stepped forward, his feet crunching on the ground. The smell of hotdogs and hamburgers cooking filled his nose, and the chatter of children filled his ears. Looking ahead, he saw two children - twins - running around and chasing fireflies.

"Dipper, you can borrow my bug net!"

"I'm fine, Polaris."

Polaris - the name given to Mabel that was never really hers at all. Though it was dark, he could still make out the younger form of his sister. She didn't have braces, not at this time, and rather than wearing her usual sweater, she wore instead a matching baseball T-shirt. With her brown hair cut short, it was hard to differentiate her from her brother by looks alone. It was the bug net she carried that gave herself away, and Dipper would recognize himself - even when he was younger - anywhere.

"Hey, you little gremlins!" Gruncle Stan called. "The hotdogs are almost ready!"

Just like Dipper remembered, the two young twins burst into giggles, and Dipper himself couldn't help but chuckle. Stepping further into the shadows of nearby trees, he watched the two twins run towards The Mystery Shack.

"You're the real gremlin!" Mabel said. She ran ahead of her brother.

"No way!" Dipper replied as he tried to get his legs to move faster. "Everyone knows you aren't allowed to eat after midnight!"

At the front, Gruncle Stan was standing by a grill, a spatula raised and a Kiss the Cook apron (which he remembered Mabel following, giving her great uncle a kiss on the nose) wrapped around his waist.

Walking through the trees, Dipper edged closer and closer to the Shack. It was almost funny how little the place had changed in six years. Soos was around, though younger, and Stan still had a number of ridiculous, truth bending signs set up directing unsuspecting tourists to come and visit. At the time, neither twin had paid much attention to it. When Dipper was six, mysteries had come second place to hotdogs.

He supposed if there wasn't a gaping hole in his chest (all the more reason for his past self not to see him) then his stomach would rumble. The food smelled as delicious as ever; though his uncle was by no means a completely honest man, it was no lie that he was a great at the grill.

"I want mustard on mine!" Mabel said. "I want ketchup too and pickles!"

"I want my hotdog first!" Dipper jumped up, his small, pale hands clenching and unclenching

Dipper gave a low chuckle. He had never been one for waiting when he was a kid.

"What's so funny, Pine Tree?"

Dipper froze for a moment, his eyes trapped on the happy family in front of him, yet his mind stuck on the demon behind him.

"Looks a bit too cheery to me. No one's broken a leg or worse!"

"Bill!" Before Dipper could even move, the words left his lip. He turned, meeting the demon in his one eye. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking the same of you." The demon chuckled and absently waved his small black cane around. "Seriously, don't you already know?"

"The code." Dipper's voice was monotone. His eyes slitted and a scowl crossed his face.

"Bingo!" The demon pointed at him, and surely would have smirked had he had a mouth. "Seriously, kid, do you think I'd invade your great uncle's brain for fun?"

"That doesn't matter!" Dipper's voice rose, and he looked back towards his great uncle and younger selves. He sighed when he saw that they were still focused on getting their food. "Look," Dipper continued on, looking back towards Bill, "whatever you want, it's not here."

"And why should I believe you?" Bill's eye lowered.

Dipper frantically looked ahead of him for the door. Whatever he had wanted to see, he wouldn't see now, at least not with Bill around.

"What's wrong, Pine Tree?"

"Can you just get out of here? The code isn't in this memory."

"It isn't?" Bill's voice only rose. He raised a small black finger and snapped.

In less than it took the time to blink, Dipper found himself on the roof. A far less than manly shriek left his lips, and he quickly moved up until his back was against the roof's letters. Funnily enough, it was the "S", the only letter that wasn't still up in his own times.

"What's going on down there?"

"None of your business!" Dipper squeezed the "S", but then just as quickly stepped away from it. With his luck, he'd accidentally knock it over.

"Hot dogs!" Mabel yelled again, though her cheery voice was further away from the roof.

"Hot dogs?" Bill turned to look at Dipper. "What did that man feed you?"

Dipper wanted to respond with an angry reply, but he could only laugh.

"Hey, Pine Tree, what's so funny? You never did tell me."

"Nothing," Dipper replied. "Except, you know, an all powerful dream demon doesn't even know what a hot dog is." Dipper's journal had made the guy seem like a living nightmare (and yes, a Dipper had to admit, in some ways he was).

"What is it?"

Before Dipper could reply, fireworks went off. Everyone quieted, and just like he remembered, all eyes went up to the sky. The fireworks were even more beautiful than Dipper remembered, most of his memory having gone with the time. When he had been six, it wasn't the mysteries of Gravity Falls that had amazed him, but the fireworks.

"Hot dogs," Dipper finally said after a huge green firework exploded, scattering across the air like a thousand lime covered stars, "are delicious meat. And no, they aren't made of actual dogs. My family can only eat the kind made solely from cows."

"Huh," Bill replied.

Dipper expected the demon to move on, to continue his hunt for the code, but he remained at Dipper's side instead. The two kept their eyes on the sky. With his curiosity satisfied, Bill turned silent, asking no more questions about hot dogs or their contests. Instead, he kept his one eye on the sky, looking at the fireworks with the same childish wonder that Dipper felt.

**Note: My headcanon is that Mabel is a trans girl, which is referenced in this drabble.**


	2. Ghosts on the Mind

The sudden laughter nearly made Dipper jump up as far as the screaming woman had. Just nearly, as he remembered just who the person laughing was as he was halfway in the air.

"What the heck are you doing?" Dipper asked as he landed on the ground. He struggled to keep his footing, and had to lean his hand up against a wall (carefully, of course, as he had no idea what could be waiting for him in this place).

"Sorry," Bill said, in a voice that only made Dipper's frown deepen, "but I had just never expected a guy like you to be the type frightened by this place."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dipper had to keep his voice low. If he was loud in here, there was no telling who could come and find them. His eyes wondered over to the end of the hallway. It was too dark to tell if that shadow he saw was a person, but his body stiffened anyway.

"Oh, I don't know, Mister-Makes-Deals-With-A-Dream-Demon," Bill replied. He winked his one eye at Dipper, and then leaned forward to grab Dipper's hand. He felt strange, with an airy lightness to him though his dark brown hand looked solid. That was how he felt due to his form, as though he was shaped like a human, he was still far from being one. "I just figured that a guy like you who doesn't even blink at some of the weird stuff in the forest out by The Mystery Shack would think that this so called haunted house was pretty boring. Even your sister is ready to leave."

Dipper looked ahead, but didn't see anyone else. Mabel must have moved on with the rest of the group.

"That stuff was freaky." Dipper's voice cracked near the end, and he had to look down to the ground, even if he could barely make out what was below him. "You have to admit that."

"I don't have to admit anything," Bill said, and laughed once more. He squeezed Dipper's hand, and as strange as his touch was it still sent waves of warmth through Dipper's body. He silently thanked Bill for accepting his invitation to come. "Though I must say, it was pretty cool when you jumped closer to me. I'd be happy to protect you."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "You and I both have noodle arms." He bit his lip, staring ahead. He could always chicken out and leave early. The people at the haunted house wouldn't care (after all, there were no refunds allowed on tickets), and neither would Mabel (though she might make a joke or two with Bill or Gruncle Stan).

It wasn't exactly true - Bill could change his form to be more muscular if he wanted to.

"Whatever, Pine Tree," Bill responded. He wrapped his arm around his waist and began to lead him forward. "Come on, there's still a whole lot more up ahead for us to see. Don't be afraid to hold on tight to me."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Bill."

Bill was silent, however, for the rest of the night as the two walked on. Eventually, the two caught up with Mabel and the rest of the group, and continued along with the tour. The tour guide, a tired looking woman, probably hadn't even noticed that the two guys at the very back of the line were gone. The next time Bill made any noise was when the tour was nearly finished and a guy with a (hopefully fake) chainsaw came running up at them from behind. Dipper laughed the rest of the way out, his arm wrapped protectively through Bill's own.

* * *

><p>"Could you hang the ghosts up there for me?" Bill asked, looking up from his clip board. He tapped the pencil against it a few times before scribbling something down.<p>

"These things don't look too spooky," Dipper said, stopping by the ladder and holding the "ghosts" up to his face. They were about as menacing as strings glued to tissues with black eyes drawn on them could be, and they were rather lazily made at that. "Maybe you should've asked Mabel for help."

"Help with what?" Mabel called from across the room. "I'm busy enough with carving jack-o-lanterns! Do you know how long it'll take to get these pumpkin seeds off of my sweater?"

Dipper sighed, and held the ghosts up closer to his face. It wasn't as if they had much time to make new stuff anyway. Grunkle Stan wanted this stuff finished for his "exciting" new attraction at the Mystery Shack, and Dipper had no way to refuse him.

"Don't look so down," Bill said as Dipper slowly made his way up the ladder. "Everyone will be screaming when those things start floating around and scaring people."

Suddenly, the ghosts flew up from Dipper's hand and in front of his face. Dipper lost his balance and fell from the ladder before he could completely process what was happening. He never hit the floor, however, as he found himself never reaching it.

"Bill, what are you doing?"

"Seeing if you'd make a good ghost," Bill replied. "You have the anti Gravity Falls thing going on."

While Bill laughed at his terrible joke, Dipper floated in the air, his eyes on the ceiling.

"This isn't even all that I have planned. I'm gonna make those wooden skeletons start moving and play a few tricks with the pumpkins. It'll be awesome."

"Whatever you say, Bill."

"Hey, Pine Tree, if you're scared then you can always hold my cold, dead hand!"


	3. What Nobody Else Sees

"This won't hurt a bit," the masked voice said. They gestured towards another blood red robed figure. "Open the chest for me, would you?"

"Of course, sir," came the reply.

Bill struggled against his restraints. The leather straps holding down his wrists dug into his dark skin, some parts even cutting through and releasing blood. Another one of the red robed figures held back his shoulders, their fingers digging into him.

"If you so much as think about firing that at me," Bill said (though he knew for a fact that they already had), his voice so loud that it echoed through the small museum room.

"Quiet down," one of the red robed figures said, causing a few others to chuckle.

"Do you think that this is funny?" For once, the pain he felt in his pseudo-human body brought him no comfort. He could feel the anger spreading through his body, his fiery anger pulsating just below his skin. "If you want funny, I'll show you funny! Your robes won't be the only red things in the room!"

The gun, if that abomination of a meat sack's invention could even be called that, was pulled from the chest. Bill had always known about it, his one eye seeing into the very thing that Gravity Falls never looked at without forgetting. All those times watching the town's citizens erase their memories, and never once had he cared until then.

"Stop this right now and I might take pity on you!" Bill could feel his almost-human body disintegrating, becoming something ten times as monstrous. No longer did he resemble a twelve year old boy, let alone anything human. His one eye remained open, staring at the red robed figures as they moved away from him. "Let me go!"

The command, however, was no longer needed. The red robed figure holding him had released his shoulders and stepped away from him with a cry of pain. The figures in front of him were trembling, and he could imagine their horrified expressions, hidden from him only by thin red fabric.

"I tried to warn you."

Dipper had asked him to remain in his human form, to not harm anyone. He had begged and pleaded, and Bill had listened. Bill had promised up and down to only prank people (with Dipper's help), to only act as weird as the rest of the town was, and never to show anything scarier than his pseudo-human form ("And let's admit it, Bill," Dipper had said with a chuckle, "that is kind of scary,").

Well Dipper wasn't here now, was he? No matter how desperately the kid wanted to know the secrets of this town, there were still things that even he didn't need to know.

Oh, this so called society was going to regret even thinking of kidnapping Bill Cipher's human form.

"But you never listened!" Bill stood from his chair. Now, he towered over the red robed figures, having grown a number of feet in a matter of seconds. Not only had his legs grown longer, but his arms as well; joints were in unnatural places, and his movements were harder. The figures shook below him, and a few even ran away screaming. Normally, Bill would have been ecstatic. Instead, Bill merely stepped forward, his inhuman face blank (quite literally, as now the only thing on his clay like face was a dot where a nose should be and his one red eye), and lunged at the nearest figure, the one with the memory gun.

With a shaking finger, Bill watched the figure pull the trigger just before Bill could grab him.

* * *

><p>"Who was that?" Bud Gleeful asked. After seeing whatever that thing was, he was still shaking. The small room was in tatters, the chair broken and its pieces knocked over. A few of the other members had fled the room, and probably even the museum judging by how shocked some of them had been. Bud probably would have fled too if he hadn't seen some weirder things too - things that he couldn't forget, no matter how much he wanted to. After all, how could he forget his own son?<p>

"I don't know," Blind Ivan admitted as he wrote down "Unknown Creature" on the memory tube's paper. "And I don't think that I want to know. I'm just glad that the thing is gone."

"Hey, Ivan," Bud said, voice still shaking slightly. "Can I borrow that memory gun? I want to be able to sleep peacefully tonight."

"Of course," Ivan replied, handing it over to him. "I believe that I might want it as well. And, judging by our missing members, I'm sure our other comrades will want to use it too."

"Who can blame them?" Bud said, forcing a weak chuckle. The memory gun felt slightly heavier than usual in his hands.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Mabel," Dipper said.<p>

"Huh?" She looked up from the sweater that she was busy knitting, the needles hanging absently in her hands. "Is something wrong, Dipper?" She picked up the TV remote with one hand and shut off the TV. For a moment, both twins were silent.

"Oh, nothing," Dipper replied. He stood by the stairs, and was looking into the living room. "I was just wondering if you had seen Bill."

"Nope." Mabel shook her head, sending her brown hair flying. "I've been knitting and watching Ductective all morning."

"Oh, I just haven't seen him in a couple days." Dipper shrugged, turning his eyes to the ground. "I'm sure that he'll come around sometime. Maybe he's off being a triangle again, doing whatever it is that demons do."

"I thought that demons made out with you!"

Dipper's entire face was red. His skin burned, and he couldn't look up at his sister. "We don't make out-"

"Do you use tongue?"

Dipper's face somehow managed to turn redder. "No, we don't! I mean, we might. Who knows? I don't!" Dipper took in a deep breath and then exhaled. "Look, I don't know, Mabel. We might, like I said before. Anyway, that isn't what I was talking about." A few quick pecks on the lips (with no tongue) did not, after all, seem like hardcore making out.

"Oh yes you were."

"Was not!" Dipper turned, heading back upstairs.

"Hey, Dipper," Mabel said, her voice losing its loud, joking tone. "I'm really sorry, but I haven't seen him in a few days. Did you guys have a fight or something?"

Dipper shook his head. "Nope, everything seemed normal between us - or at least as normal as we could make it." He sighed. "Thanks anyway, Mabel."

"Hey, have you seen Waddles?"

Dipper shook his head. "I saw him at breakfast earlier, but he was with you."

Mabel's frown covered her entire face. "Yeah, that's the last time that I saw him too."

For a moment, Dipper could only watch his sister sadly slump on the couch.

"I'll keep an eye out for him, okay?"

"Okay!" Her usual smile returned. "Thank you so much, Dipper!"

"Hey, I already have one person to find. I just found another mystery for me to solve."

"Thanks, bro."

"Hey, it's what I do."

With newfound glee, Mabel turned on the TV and began to knit faster than ever before. Dipper returned upstairs to the attic and took his journal from his night stand. He flipped through the yellowed pages, turning past information on gnomes and squashes with human faces and emotions to one of the last pages. There sat a drawing of an all too familiar dream demon.

It can't be so hard to do this again, Dipper thought.

He had done it before, summoning Bill to save the laptop. Bill had given him the code and Dipper had to help build him an almost human body.

"Think of it like a puppet," Bill had said.

"I hope you don't try to show it to Gabe."

The two had both laughed about that, and Mabel had laughed so hard she cried after Dipper told it again to her after her failed date.

Gideon had done it too. Really, it would make things a lot easier. Then Dipper wouldn't have to try and look all across Gravity Falls for him. And hey, maybe the two could find Waddles together. Bill, Dipper had surprisingly learned, was rather fun to go on mysteries with.

Dipper bit his lip. Though it would be easier, it would be more of a last resort thing. Besides, it seemed kind of rude to just summon him with no prior warning.

Dipper sighed and closed his journal before placing it back down on his nightstand. His investigations would just have to be done the old fashioned way.

* * *

><p>Bill searched his mind, trying to find an image or to make words echo through his mind. All that he found was blankness, an oblivion inside of everything that was known. His head, which held a universe in and of itself, a place more terrifying than any mind scape, was as blank as an erased chalkboard when it concerned the last few months.<p>

"What is going on with yourself lately?" Bill absently twirled his cane. He remembered appearing in the mind scape in his human form, a dark skinned man with hair that was more neon yellow than anything that humans would consider blonde (natural or not). Before that, he couldn't remember anything.

The triangle sighed and hung limply in the air. "Did you see something that actually scared you?" He laughed, the sound echoing through the grey, shadowy world of the mind scape.

Bill floated in place for a while, completely still, as if the demon expected for himself to respond with an answer - a response to fill the emptiness of his place.

* * *

><p>If his brain wouldn't give him a straight answer, then he would have to fill in the blanks himself. After floating around the mind scape and thinking for a while, he finally decided to head to Gravity Falls.<p>

The town was just as Bill remembered it from when he saw it last, with its bleary eyed and ignorant citizens, its cheap tourist spots, and one good restaurant. If he had to be honest, the place actually was kind of boring, so long as he looked only in certain places. Though Bill could go anywhere he liked (or to wherever some fool summoned him), he rather liked the town. The "normal" places that Bill sometimes travelled to, where meat sacks lived huddled together, were some of the least exciting places that Bill had ever been to.

Maybe that was where I was, Bill thought. In New York or Paris or wherever else and simply got so bored from it that I forgot about it.

Though the idea was about as plausible as every other one he had, he couldn't help but feel that it was wrong. Not only did the demon spend so much time in Gravity Falls, but he tended to stay in the mind scape surrounding it.

I sure haven't missed out on a lot, Bill thought.

Flying by a calendar, he noticed that it was the middle of July. His last clear memory was in the late May. If the town was as willfully ignorant as ever, then it surely hadn't seen too many changes. Summerween had come and gone, the annual summer flea market had been held, and a few questionable meats had been sold at the local butcher to be cooked on the Fourth of July.

Same old, same old.

"Hurry up, slowpoke!"

Bill turned towards the voice. Unlike the other citizens of Gravity Falls, this one (belonging to a brown haired girl) seemed excited. Rather than walking, she ran, and nearly bumped into or knocked over a few Gravity Falls natives on the way.

"If we don't hurry then they'll stop serving breakfast at the diner. Besides, Lazy Susan said that she would be giving us free pie for helping her out last week."

"I know, Mabel!" The responding voice had a squeaky sound to it. Judging by how the boy age, he looked to be ready to start puberty. His voice would change and he would grow hair in certain parts of his body. That, or scales would cover his skin and a tail and wings would rip through his back; Bill couldn't quite be sure just how that stage of life affected growing humans.

The girl wore a knit sweater, though it was easily eighty degrees outside judging by the sweating faces of passing humans. The boy behind her's face was mostly blocked by a trucker style hat with a blue pine tree on it.

Bill followed behind them. The world around him was colorful, but that came at the price of making contact with the two. Only when the world turned grey and they entered the mind scape would he be able to connect with them.

If Bill had a head like a human's then he surely would have shaken it. Why was he even thinking about making contact with them when he had only started watching them a few minutes before?

And on that note, Bill realized, he didn't recognize the two. The demon prided himself on knowing every citizen in the town. They lacked the cameras that tourists usually had, and the way that the girl ran indicated that she knew exactly where she was going.

The two children turned a corner and Bill followed. He had been considering looking around the woods surrounding the town, but stopped himself. He already knew what would be waiting for him there - gnomes, manotaurs, mermaids, squashes with human faces and emotions. In all the centuries that the land had existed, before it had been settled and dubbed with the ironic name by humans, it had been strange. That had never changed, and the creatures living inside of the woods had never left.

Now these kids? They were new.

And, if Bill had to be completely honest, far more interesting than lawn ornaments come to life and human faced vegetables.

* * *

><p>Bill sighed. Whatever had seemed interesting about the two new kids, named Mabel and Dipper as he had earlier learned, had now vanished. Once they had gotten to the diner, they had talked with the elderly waitress and eaten stack after stack of pancake. After that, they had stuffed their meaty bodies with slices of blueberry pie, and ended up smearing blue gunk on their chins, cheeks, and sides of their lips in the process. In between, they had discussed boring human topics such as movies and pet pigs and miniature golf.<p>

Then, just as the two were busy dividing up their cash to make a tip for the waitress, Dipper pulled something from his vest.

"I think we might need to use this today."

Dipper only held the book out for a few moments, but it was long enough for Bill's mind to register just what he saw. Without even opening the book and revealing its cracked spine and dusty, yellowed pages, Bill recognized the journal. All it took was the ancient red cover with its gleaming, golden, and six fingered hand.

Well, well, Bill thought, holding a small black finger upwards. These two certainly aren't normal kids.

* * *

><p>Dipper was used to the feeling of being watched. He was no stranger to it. From the stares of his peers at school growing up, the hard glares of his parents when he, Mabel, and the cat broke Aunt Sidney's vase, to the hungry eyes of Gravity Falls' various monsters and oddities, he was used to being watched.<p>

This feeling, however, was different. There was nothing negative attached to it, nothing that made him fear trouble. That, however, just made him all the more suspicious.

Searching his eyes around the small attic, for what felt like the thousandth time that day, Dipper again searched for whoever was watching him. Mabel's eyes, however, were caught behind a romance novel (with a horrifically designed cover) and Waddles was asleep in her lap. Neither seemed like the type who could put him on edge.

But, just like always, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

Dipper hunched over his journal and shivered. Frantically, he flipped through more pages, hoping that it would help lead him to some kind of answer.

* * *

><p>What were these kids thinking? Bill looked at them from below, his triangular form hidden up in a tree. From up where he stood, the two children looked like ants below him. Mabel was jumping up and down, excitedly yelling to her brother. Dipper had his head hunched over in the journal and rarely so much as gave her a second glance.<p>

Were these kids trying to put themselves in danger? They constantly kept returning to the Gravity Falls forest. The town itself was pretty dangerous, but this place was trouble with a capital T (and R-O-U-B-L-E).

Bill followed them, careful to hide among the trees. Thankfully, the forest was dense and full of trees, from pine to oak to even a few red woods here and there.

They were at least interesting mortals. The townsfolk that pretended to know so little about Gravity Falls were just plain boring.

"Hey, Dipper," Mabel said suddenly before stopping.

"Huh?" He looked up from his book, eyes wide.

"What if we don't find the author? He could be dead."

So that's who they were looking for. If the triangle shaped demon had a mouth, then it would be smirking. Oh, those kids really were jumping head first into boiling hot water.

"Look, Mabel," Dipper replied in a tired tone. He paused, putting his hand on his chin and rubbing it.

"Or what if the author is a she!" Mabel threw her hands up into the air. "Wouldn't that be so cool, Dipper?"

"Yeah," Dipper replied, voice low and nonchalant. He flipped through a few more of the journal's pages. "Look, I think that we might have a lead. If we could just figure out a cryptogram then we might be able to solve this puzzle."

The middle of the Gravity Falls forest hardly seemed like the best place to just sit down for a few hours and try to crack a code. Ah, mortals, with their strange ways and sudden fears. Whatever went on in their skulls, he would never understand.

Yes, as a dream demon he knew everything, from the secret of the Bermuda Triangle to the reason why the universe was created. He knew, but he did not understand. How could he, with the way mortals acted?

"Ooh, maybe the code will help us find out if the author is a girl!" Mabel's eyes widened suddenly. "Oh, I bet Wendy would love that! She'll totally agree!" Without another word, Mabel took off running down the forest, twigs and leaves snapping under her feet.

"Hey, Mabel!" Dipper caused before giving off a frustrating sound, something that sounded to Bill like a mix of a sigh and a grunt. Rather than running after his sister like Bill expected, he simply stood still and again flipped open the pages of his journal.

Curiosity ran through Bill, one that he knew couldn't be quenched by merely watching the pine tree boy alone. What they needed was interaction, maybe even a deal or two. Once Mabel was far away and Dipper's nose was completely buried in his book, Bill flew up to him.

So entranced was Dipper by whatever secrets he was reading that he didn't even notice the color around him fade. In the middle of the vast, misty grey land, he stood out, a moving piece of varying colors in a still, monochrome world.

For a moment, Bill could only float above him and stare. Interesting no longer seemed like the correct term to describe him. That world seemed too flippant and impersonal.

No, Dipper Pines was absolutely fascinating.

Bill slowly floated down to him, his one eye wide. He was silent, saving his usual jokes and remarks for later. Dipper still had yet to notice what had happened. He didn't even notice when Bill floated up behind him.

This kid is really going to get himself hurt one day, Bill thought.

For a moment longer, he was silent, merely watching the boy. A short while before, a cool breeze had blown through the hot summer air. Now it was gone, like all the colors, and bits of Dipper's hair that wasn't hidden under his hat was slightly wind blown and messy.

"Well, well, well," Bill said, finally breaking his silence. "Who do we have here?"

Dipper jumped for a moment. When he landed, his face had gone white and his clutch on his journal was much tighter. When he turned around though, his normal hue returned and he smiled - at a dream demon of all creatures!

"Oh, Bill," Dipper said. His smile widened. "I'm so glad to see you! I've been so worried about you these last few weeks."

Worried? Why would that kid worry for Bill's welfare? The kid should have been shaking in his sneakers and trying to run away as fast as those noodle legs of his would carry him.

"I hope that you're okay." Then, without warning, he reached forward and grabbed Bill, pulling him into his chest.

It was a tight squeeze. Dipper was doing some dastardly human thing, called hugging or something. It felt like he was trying to rip the demon apart.

Bill would have thought his action reasonable were it not for the fact that Dipper still had a happy grin on his face and that he let Bill go.

Bill floated for a moment, still in shock. Did that kid even realize just what he had done?

Earlier thoughts of questioning him left Bill's mind. He couldn't just stand around questioning this kid, not when he acted so casual around Bill.

No, Dipper Pines needed to be taught a lesson.

* * *

><p>"Bill, what are you doing?" Dipper's voice cracked at the end. Though the mind scape seemed to have no temperature, sweat fell from the back of his neck and arms. "What's going on with you, Bill?"<p>

In only moments, without warning, the dream demon had increased to twenty times his size and gone red. His red eye glared down at Dipper, his eye filled with enough fury to convey the facial expression that he could not make.

This wasn't Bill. It couldn't be. Bill had been cruel at first, but that was only because he had been working for Gideon at the time. Not only had he helped Dipper crack the laptop's code, but he had gone to Mabel's puppet show with Dipper (and made a few not too kind, if funny, remarks about Gabe). He had become a constant companion, someone that Bill trusted as much as Mabel, Wendy, or Soos. Companion, after the way that things had changed between them, no longer seemed like the correct term for him.

"Bill?"

His only answer was a blinding light and the feel of his feet leaving the ground before Dipper was hurdled through the air, screaming and clutching at his journal.

* * *

><p>"I really do think that the author could be a girl." Mabel beamed up at Wendy.<p>

"Maybe that's the clue that we've been missing this whole time." Wendy returned the smile and moved away tree branches in front of them.

"I hope it is," Mabel said. "I think that I need a break from mysteries for a while so that I can focus on knitting. Sweater weather is coming up soon."

"Oh, don't remind me," Wendy responded. "I'll be working less hours at the Shack, facing another year of high school, and having to rake up a million leaves."

"Don't sound so grumpy about it, Wendy. Fall is fun!" The two were nearing the spot that Dipper had been in. Mabel motioned for Wendy to hurry after her just before Mabel broke out running again.

The forest clearing was small and mostly shaded by trees. Mabel tried to convince herself for a moment that she was just seeing things and there was a problem with the lighting.

But that hat, the bright splash of blue, depicted an all too familiar symbol.

"Dipper!" Mabel raced forward to the tree that he was leaning against. Just like him, the bark was damaged. Whatever, or whoever, had fired him at the tree had done so with a lot of force. Mabel's heart raced, and she screamed his name so loud that she was sure the entire town heard her. "Dipper!"

"What's wrong?" Mabel could hear her rushing forward, but did not turn away from the small, injured figure of her brother below her.

Mabel wanted to be surprised. She wanted to know that it was an accident. But it wasn't. She had faced too many evil child psychics, gnomes, lake monsters, and evil dating sim characters to know that this kind of thing happened. Gravity Falls was a dangerous place.

"No, no, no, no," she said, leaning down and getting on her knees. Twigs and pebbles dug into the flesh of her knees, but she hardly noticed. How could she when the pain of the sight of her brother before her was one thousand times worse?

She only relaxed slightly when she saw that her brother was still breathing, even if he was unconscious.

"Oh my gosh," Wendy said. She got down and looked over Dipper as well. "Mabel, we need to hurry up and get him help!"

Everything after that was a blur. Mabel briefly remembered Wendy tearing her shirt sleeves to make makeshift bandages for Dipper and then hauling him up on her shoulder. Normally, Mabel would have marveled at her strength. Instead, she only numbly followed Wendy through the forest, her ears hardly registering the comforting words that the red head was trying to give her.

In her hands, Mabel held the journal. It seemed like a one hundred pound weight all its own.

* * *

><p>Mabel had never liked hospitals. The teddy bear and flower filled gift shops couldn't hide the sadness and pain underneath. The plastic chair by her brother's bed was hard. The constant beeping of machinery echoed through her ears, and the too white light blurred her vision. She never wanted to smell floor cleaner again.<p>

It was even worse when she was the only other person inside the hospital room besides her comatose brother. He looked so small under those piles of blankets, with all these machines hooked up to him.

Mabel forced back a sob.

Maybe if Wendy or Soos were inside the room then things would be a little better. They always knew how to make jokes that would lighten up the mood. But only biological family was allowed inside; Grunkle Stan had long since gone to try and call the twins' parents for what must have been the thousandth time. Why did they never pick up? What was so important that they couldn't answer one call?

A few moments later, Stan came back inside. He looked even older than usual, with bags under his eyes and excess wrinkles. He was not wearing his usual fez (showing off his messy grey hair) or eye patch. In his hands he held a granola bar and juice box.

"Just try and get a little protein in, Mabel."

"I'm not hungry." Mabel had been constantly repeating that for the last two days. Her appetite had vanished the moment that she had seen her injured brother's body.

"Look, Mabel, I know that you're worried about your brother." He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. "Believe me, I am too. But I'm also worried about you. You're not my favorite great niece for nothing."

"I'm your only great niece."

"You're still my favorite."

Mabel couldn't help but give him a small smile. Taking the granola bar from him, she opened the top and began to chew on it. The chocolate chips and cashews inside were just as tasteless as the actual granola. With a strength that she didn't know she had, she finished the whole thing.

"I actually have something else for you, Mabel." He handed her the juice box and began to dig through his pockets. He pulled out some photos. "Just a few pictures that I took that I thought you might want."

Mabel quickly looked over them before her tears came rushing back, with such force that it almost seemed like she had never stopped crying. She pushed the pictures away, where they spilled onto the floor.

Rather than making a comment, her great uncle merely leaned down and picked up the pictures before putting them on a window ledge next to Dipper's growing collection of stuffed animals and flowers.

Her uncle sat down once more and pulled her on his lap. He patted her shoulder.

There was one good thing about her great uncle - he gave no false words or unsure promises. He never said that everything would be okay.

Because maybe, just maybe, nothing would ever be the same again.

* * *

><p>The hospital room was dim now. Bill had been floating to and from it for a long time that day. He had rolled his one eye at the crying mortals. Why didn't they just get over it?<p>

Bill's eye fell on Dipper's body below him. If the kid ever woke up, he surely would never mess with Bill again. Considering most of his lessons to mortals were much harsher, he had actually gone easy on the kid.

Bill had waited all day for a time to watch at he kid without having to listen to his family sob, but now that they were gone Bill no longer held much interest in the boy.

Dipper was hurt. So what? If Bill really wanted to see something interesting then he could go watch a fight break out or rip teeth from the mouths of deer.

Just as he was about to float out, however, Bill noticed something. His eye locked on a stack of photos, and he floated closer to look at them. The top one intrigued him. It depicted a dark skinned boy with yellow hair standing next to Dipper. He looked to be about Dipper's age, and was oddly familiar.

A few other images formed in Bill's mind due to the picture. Quickly, he looked to another.

Each new picture brought memories back and filled in the blank spaces in Bill's head. It was only when Bill had finally seen the last picture that the pain came. It was one of the few pains that the triangle could feel in his true form, and it ripped through every part of him.

* * *

><p>The Society of the Blind Eye seemed shocked to see Bill (in his human form again), and their eyeballs nearly popped out of their heads when they saw the memory gun in his hand pointed directly at them.<p>

"That's impossible..." One red robed figure said.

Bill smirked. "Gentlemen, I may only have one eye, but it works just fine. Whatever you tried to do to me failed."

A burning anger ran through him. It would be so easy to kill the men, to turn their meaty bodies into blood and flesh colored ribbon or to turn their bodies to dust. He at least wanted to terrify them so badly that he haunted their minds every day for the rest of their miserable lives, to when they tried to sleep all they saw was Bill continuing their eternal torture. They certainly deserved it.

But Dipper wouldn't want him to do that. Already, Bill had put the boy and all the people that cared for him most through enough pain.

He pulled the trigger.

* * *

><p>Mabel refused to leave her brother's side. Day and night (at least until visiting hours at the hospital were over), she stayed by her brother, watching over him.<p>

"I'm sorry," Bill said, though he knew that she couldn't hear him, not while he was only in the grey shadow of the mind scape. "I'm so, so sorry. I'll make things right and bring your brother back; I promise."

* * *

><p>Bill had expected a world of mysteries or a carbon copy of Dipper's world, right down to the nearest detail, inside of his brain. Instead, all he found was a barren grey waste land that stretched on forever. Dipper stood in the center, unmoving and sitting down with his knees held up to his chest.<p>

"Dipper?"

For a moment, the boy didn't respond. His body was as still as ever.

"Bill?" he finally replied, disbelief clearly laced in his voice.

He wanted to apologize, to explain what had happened. Instead, Bill turned silent.

After a moment, however, he found the right words.

"I finally remember you."

* * *

><p>Bill visited that grey land more times than he could count. He couldn't stay in it long without feeling suffocated and claustrophobic. It was a shame that Dipper himself couldn't leave the place.<p>

Slowly, words were shared. Often they were unfinished fragments, the words and conversation picked up where the two last left off on Bill's last visit. Bill's story and explanation, not to mention hundreds of thousands apologies, came out.

In between, Dipper told him stories that filled in the blanks that the pictures could not. Every memory was precious, but Bill enjoyed the time spent with Dipper even more.

"Pine Tree," he said. "You called me Pine Tree."

For a moment, Bill was confused before his words set in. Now that he thought about it, that was the perfect nickname for the boy.

* * *

><p>The look of relief on Mabel and Stan Pines' faces when Dipper woke up filled Bill with relief. His promise had been kept and Dipper was conscious once more.<p>

Bill hovered on the edges, invisible to all who might look for him, yet seeing everything. He almost wanted to join in the festivities, but stopped himself. Dipper was so happy to see his family again; it would have been wrong to take that moment away from him.

Bill floated out of the room.

They would have their moment together, their time to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild the relationship that they once had, some time later. For now, Bill would let Dipper and his family had all the time together that they would need.


	4. Golden Coins

By the time that the second night rolled around, Mabel was ready to play dreidel. Dipper couldn't blame her, with finals having ended only a few days before and the long car ride to Gravity Falls (with only their mother's retro radio station to listen to). The twins desperately needed some fun.

This dreidel wasn't made of clay, but it hadn't been bought in a store either.

"You kids are lucky these days," Gruncle Stan said as he dug through an old box. On the side was "Chanukah" written in messy letters. "Back in my day, we couldn't just walk into a store and buy plastic dreidels that came with toys. I had to carve this myself in wood shop class, one of those classes my father made me sign up for."

"I'm in that class!" Mabel's eyes widened. "I already built a bookcase, a jewelry box, and a knife holder. Most students only had time to finish their second project."

"A knife holder? Nice." Their great uncle grinned before handing Mabel the dreidel. The Hebrew on its sides was slightly faded, and looked to have been painted on. "Play a few rounds without eating all of the chocolate. I bought that stuff full price a week ago and I want to have some to eat myself."

"Sure, Gruncle Stan," Dipper said.

"You can have your chocolate." Mabel grinned. "But if you only beat us!"

Gruncle Stan furrowed his brows. "You are on, kid!"

Whatever duties he'd had before had been forgotten. At record speed, the three left the attic and plopped themselves into chairs at the kitchen table. Across the hall, Dipper and Mabel's parents laughed in front of the TV screen, too immersed in their show to come play with the kids.

"Let's play kids," Gruncle Stan said. "Naturally, since I'm the oldest and wisest of you all, despite what Dipper thinks, I'm the person who should go first."

He spun the dreidel before landing on nun.

"Ha!" Mabel said. "You landed on nun so you got none!"

Gruncle Stan rolled his eyes. "It's your turn."

Mabel grabbed the dreidel. It spun a bit longer than Gruncle Stan's had, before it finally stopped and landed on Hay.

"Haha, victory for me!" Mabel reached forward and grabbed her winnings.

"You only get half, kid!"

Dipper reached forward and grabbed the dreidel. It was heavier than Dipper had expected, and the hard wood was rough against his hands.

He and his uncle must have had the same vein of luck, as he landed on nun as well.

"It's okay, Dipper," Mabel said. She flipped him a chocolate coin, which landed in front of him with a light thump.

"How come he gets one and I don't?" Gruncle Stan crossed his arms over his chest.

The game continued on, with Gruncle Stan taking another spin.

For a moment, Dipper's eyes ran over the coin below him. The gold foil had the emblem of a triangle with an oval at the center, rather than a Star of David, menorah, or a president's head like most chocolate coins did. Dipper picked it up and held it closer. He was sure that he had seen something like that before.

"Dipper!"

Dipper nearly dropped the coin from his hand.

"It's your turn." Mabel grinned, showing off her braces covered teeth.

Putting the coin down, Dipper returned to the game. For once, he didn't feel bad about landing on shin.


	5. Synthesized

Dipper stared into the dark sky above him as it slowly turned from a dark purple to a deep, dark grey that hovered just on the border of black. His heart was racing, the only part of him that was moving, goosebumps rose along the back of his arms and legs, and his hair stuck to the back of his neck. It took him a moment to even remember to breathe again.

By the time he did, Bill had appeared. He was shadowy in the dim light, but Dipper could still make out the triangle hovering above him. From the distance, he looked so tiny, nothing but a shape floating in the sky.

For a moment, both were still. No wind blew that night, leaving Dipper hot. His sweat continued to pour down him.

Just relax, he thought.

But how could he? That would go against the rules that Bill had set up in this dream world. It was Dipper's dream, but Bill was the puppeteer of them.

If Bill didn't want wind, then there was no wind.

If Bill wanted to hover above him, then he could.

Dipper had been sure for quite some time that he wasn't sleeping right. His sleep was frantic, with nights where he tossed and turned endlessly. His few dreams would be strange and impossible to describe; by the time he woke up, Dipper would hardly remember any of it. There were also nights where he seemed to pass out, dreaming nothing at all, and waking up far later than usual. Those were the days where Mabel couldn't shake him awake.

"You didn't seem like you were there," Mabel had said one morning while eating a sandwich. Dipper had pulled out some roast beef to make his own; by the time he got up, it was too late for the homemade waffles that his uncle had made earlier. Waddles, much to the pig's delight, had eaten the waffles for him (though he likely had a little help from Mabel).

Slowly, Bill floated downwards. His one eye never blinked nor looked away from Dipper. Dipper could only stand still, his eyes locked on the dream demon above him.

Dipper had always suspected that Bill might have something to do with his strange sleeping patterns and odd dreams.

He just hadn't thought that he would confront him quite like this.

What am I supposed to do? Dipper suddenly thought. It was impossible to look away from the dream demon's cold gaze, a gaze that froze Dipper in place. How could he confront Bill when he stood as still as a statue?

No, Dipper realized, he hadn't actually planned what to do once he confronted Bill at all.

The demon moved ever closer. As he did so, Bill grew larger and larger. Though he had yet to outsize Dipper, it was only a matter of time before Dipper was the size of an ant under him.

"Well, well, well," Bill said in his all too familiar voice. "Glad to see you, Pine Tree."

His voice snapped Dipper back to normal. He quickly stepped away from Bill.

Dipper's dreams had started to become more and more lucid. This?

This was unexplainable.

Well, Dipper realized, forcing a deep breath in, it would be. But I've fought him before and I can fight him again.

Bill was a splash of color in the now black and white dreamscape. He glowed a luminescent yellow, and the color at the edge of him seemed to pulse. His eye remained firmly on Dipper, never wavering in the slightest.

Don't show fear, Dipper told himself. At least try and act brave.

"What are you doing here?" It wasn't until the end that his voice cracked.

Bill laughed, the sound echoing through Dipper's ears.

"You're a funny one, Pine Tree. By now most people are screaming."

Dipper straightened his back and clenched his fists. He raised them from his sides and began to wave them in the air, like tough guys in movies did. "Look, whatever you want, it's not happening and I'm not doing it. At least not without a fight."

Bill's eyebrow narrowed. He raised a thin black finger up and rubbed it just below his eyeball, about the closest thing the triangle had to a chin. "You want a fight, Pine Tree? Sounds fun." Bill chuckled again. "Sorry, though, but I'm not here to fight."

Dipper bit his lip. "Well then what are you here for?"

"Oh, you know," Bill replied, casually waving his hands in the air. "Just watching you like I always do. This time I just thought of getting up close and personal." He floated closer, and Dipper nearly tripped trying to back away from him.

"What the heck, man! What was that for?"

Wait, why would Bill have a reason? Dipper realized. It's not like he needs one when he's, well, Bill.

"Just keeping my eye on you," the triangle replied. "Someone has to look out for you, because it's obvious you can't."

Dipper huffed. "If anyone needs to be watched, it's you."

The demon chuckled. "Well, you can always watch me."

Dipper nearly stepped forward, but stopped himself. The last thing he needed was to be even closer to Bill.

"Look, if you want to use my body again then-"

"Look, kid, I'm not here for that."

Dipper was quiet for a moment, his finger raised at the sudden objection.

"I don't want to give you deer teeth or screaming heads. Your body is yours to do with whatever you like, and I have no current need for a human vessel."

"Then what do you want?" Dipper narrowed his eyes. Something had to be fishy. This was Bill, after all.

"I just came to watch you, that's all. Go on with the rest of your dream like normal." The dream demon suddenly shrunk back to his normal height.

"And why do you want to watch me?" Dipper stepped forward, meeting the demon in the eye.

"Because," Bill said, as if the answer was obvious (and not wrapped in an enigma, just like just about everything else about the dream demon was), "someone has to do it."

"My sister and great uncle look after me just fine." Dipper stiffened. "And hey, I can take care of myself."

"Sure, sure," Bill replied. "I bet you were thinking the same thing when that floor fell out from under your feet today and your sister had to save you with her grappling hook."

Dipper felt his cheeks go hot. "How did-"

Dipper froze.

"Oh, right," Dipper replied, looking to the grey grass below him. "Always watching."

Bill laughed. "That's the spirit!" Dipper looked back up, locking his eyes with Bill's one single eye. "Look, don't get so worked up about it. All I'm doing is watching you for a few hours before you wake up. I don't see what's so wrong with that."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Nothing seems wrong to you."

The demon suddenly turned red, and Dipper stiffened. "Would you care to repeat that?"

Dipper shook his head.

Bill relaxed. "Good, then go back to your normal dream stuff or whatever. You can even pretend that I'm not here."

Dipper nodded before turning away. "Fine."

It was only when he stepped away that he smiled.

Some of his dream stuff couldn't quite be called normal.

* * *

><p>Mabel's eyes took a few moments to adjust to the dim lighting.<p>

Why is Waddles making all this noise? Mabel thought.

It took her a moment to remember that her pig couldn't sing.

And if he could, Mabel thought, her eyes slowly focusing on the dim form of her brother across the attic room, he wouldn't be singing girly Icelandic pop sensation Babba songs.

"Disco girl," a sleeping Dipper mumbled, turning slightly. The sound was followed by a quick snore and a few more mumbled lyrics.

Mabel couldn't help but smile. Considering how he had been sleeping for the last few months, this was actually a relief.

It took her a little while to tune out her brother, but when she did she quickly fell back asleep.

It was safe to assume that Dipper was sleeping just fine.

* * *

><p>Dipper was no longer alone. He had been joined by the Multi-Bear and floating replicas of the Babba band members. Considering how sparkly the place was and how high pitched the music was, it seemed more like a dream his sister would be having.<p>

I bet if Mabel were here, Dipper thought as he strummed on his shiny blue electric guitar, that she'd absolutely love it.

"Why are you doing this?" Bill roared.

"You told me to just act normal," Dipper said in a sing-song voice. Soon, the rest of the dream band followed along, keeping the music together. "And for me, this is normal."

Dipper paused, doing a quick guitar solo. He always sounded so much better in his dreams than when he tried to play an instrument in real life.

"But do you want to know what's not normal for me, Bill?"

Bill, who had his hands held to his sides as if trying to block out the noise, only grunted in reply.

"Having you in my dreams with me!" After a quick strum of his guitar, he began to sing "Disco Girl" once more, and performed it even louder than ever. The rest of the band joined along, filling the dream world with sound and making the black and white world much brighter. Bits of color were already appearing. "Now unless you want to stay and listen longer, I suggest that you get out!"


End file.
